Composition for shoe soles and heels.



D. H. YOUNG & G. 0. NOBLE.

COMPOSITION FOR SHOE SOLES AND HEELS. APPLICATION FILED MAY 15. 191

1,299,65, J 'Patented Apr. 8,1919.

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INVENTORS .27. ilbun 9', and

C. O. JY'OZZz, by

UNITED STATES PATENT GFFIQE.

DANIEL H. YOUNG AND CHARLES O. NOBLE, OF MANCHESTER, IOWA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 8, 1919.

Application filed May 15, 1918. Serial No. 234,659.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it lmown that we, DANIEL H. YOUNG and CHARLES O. NOBLE, citizens of the United States of America, and residents of Manchester, Delaware county, Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Compositions for Shoe Soles and Heels, of which the following is a specification.

1 Our invention relates to improvements in compositions for shoe-soles and heels, and the object of our improvement is to suply for this use or for any employment in which the use of our improved composition is considered desirable, a combined assemblage of relatively rigid with elastic structures, which will furnish a resistant wearing surface and a yielding body.

This object we have accomplished by the means which are hereinafter described and claimed, and which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an under plan view of a shoe-sole and heel constructed of our improved composition; Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of a sole formed of said material; Figs. 3 to 5 inclusive, are enlarged sections of pieces of the improved composition, showing varied forms of blocks embedded in the elastic matrix; Figs. 6 and 7 are under plan views in detail and in an enlarged scale, of varied types of the invention, in which modified forms of blocks are employed.

Throughout the drawings, similar numerals of reference denote like parts.

The figures of said drawings are merely illustrative of selected types or specimens of the composition, giving modified forms and arrangements of the embedded blocks, and we wish it to be clearly-understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms without departing from our new principle of construction and use.

In Fig. 1, the heel and tread part of a sole of a shoe only are shown as formed of our improved composition, but the whole sole may be so constructed therefrom if desired,

or more convenient to manufacture or use.

The essential principle of construction is the embedding of numerous relatively small blocks -or pieces of wood or other substance having light weight, good adhesion,

and tread wearing qualities in a matrix or surrounding and binding substance of tenacious yet yielding resilient material, the

blocks having an exposed tread surface in one plane adapted to sustain frictional wear, and the matrix to yield elastically in any direction to thereby permit free relative movemeiits to the blocks, and when employed ina shoe-sole or heel to conduce to the comfort of the wearer.

The blocks 1 are preferably formed from strong and finely grained wood, but relatively soft woods may be suitably treated either mechanically or chemically to fit them for the purposes above mentioned. In practice, the blocks 1 have their tread faces on a cross-section of the fibers thereof, to present the most resistance to frictional wear. The shape of the block 1 is not material, as the block may be cubical as shown in Fig. 3, a truncated pyramid as shown in Fig. 4:, or have grooves or other engaging-means thereon, as indicated in Fig. 5 by the grooves 4. In the last-mentioned case, the grooves 4: receive portions of the bindin material 2, to interlock therewith, and this locking efi'ect is also secured in the structure shown in Fig. 4 in an obvious manner to prevent easy detachment of said blocks.

The matrix or binding body 2 is preferably made of elastic rubber or other like yielding tenacious material. As shown in said Fig. 2, the sole may have a layer of textiles 3 combined with rubber 2 to lend tensile strength to the composition. The com osition also may preserve the same qua ities, by making all the matrix 2 of a mixture of rubber and fiber, the fiber lending strength and homogeneousness to the whole binding structure, not only above the blocks in the body of the sole, but also between the blocks.

In Fig. 6, the cubical blocks have their vertical angles rounded off to promote adhesion and also to prevent salient angles capable of catching exterior obstructions when part of the lntermediate binding is worn out. In Fig. 7 we have shown a plurality of relatively narrow strips of wood employed, and in this type of the composition, as also in that shown in said Fig. 1, the wear-resisting elements 1 are arranged obliquely, which is a good arrangement in wearing quality. The blocks may be otherwise arranged, or alternated, or blocks of diiferent shapes intermingled, and still come within our invention.

Having described our invention, what We claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A composition of the character described, comprising a plurality of relatively small and rigid spaced blocks having like faces presented in one direction as a tread surface, and a binding body of relatively elastic material in which said blocks are embedded and secured together to permit of their relative movements, said body containing fibrous material, and each of said blocks being formed to engage the surrounding binding body to prevent its endwise displacement therefrom.

2-. A composition of the I character described, composed of a rubber matrix containing fibrous material, and numerous relatively small pieces of Wood embedded there in to present like faces outwardly in a common tread surface, the tread faces of the pieces being presented in a cross-grain of the' wood, and each block having ren trant engaging-means adapted to receive portions of the surrounding matrix.

Signed at Manchester, Iowa, this 29th day of April, 1918.

DANIEL H. YOUNG. CHARLES O. NOBLE. WVitnesses J J. ARDEBSER, JOHN MCKAAG. 

